Avoiding foolish ways

Good morning. This is a devotional for single adults from Parenting Solo, but the message also applies to single adults without children who may one day marry a single parent and be a step-parent. Feel Free to forward it to a friend. If you wish to be removed from this e-mail list, simply hit reply and write REMOVE in the subject line.

Good morning. Today’s scripture comes from Proverbs 7:6 (New Living Translation): While I was at the window of my house, looking through the curtain, I saw some naïve young men, and one in particular who lacked common sense.

You may already know where this story is going. If not, read the whole Proverb. Here's the Cliff Notes version: An immoral woman is bored and seduces the young man because he is easy prey – he lacks common sense. As parents, one of our main jobs is to help our chidren develop common sense. A little common sense would have kept the young man from being by the seductress, who, day after day, looks for easy prey while her husband is away on business. Proverbs uses the term “folly,” meaning, “the fool.”

So just how do we give our children common sense? The Bible equates common sense to wisdom, and we gain wisdom through a relationship with God. We develop our relationship with God through time spent with him, reading and studying the Bible (alone and with others), praying, spending time with other believers, listening to a sermon on Sunday morning, and serving others. Let's take one of those areas, serving, and see how God uses it to teach us wisdom and common sense.

Take your child with you to feed the homeless. While the two of you are working, ask your child, “What do you think happened to that person that they reached this stage of life?” Maybe you ask the question on the job or in the car on the drive home. Then let them think about it, and keep asking questions when they respond. Sometimes, people are in their predicament because of poor choices. As you pull into the driveway, stop and say a prayer. “Lord, show my son how to be a person of good character, how to care for others who are less fortunate, and give him the wisdom to avoid being where these people were today. And help my son to always feel compassion for the poor and the needy.”

As you're walking up to the house, remind your son or daughter that life is difficult sometimes. Often, we get in such predicaments because we have strayed from God's ways and a relationship with him. God is never far from us, but we sometimes choose to keep him at a distance. We want to make our own decisions to prove we can be independent. That's a normal emotion for a teenager. Remind them that being independent from our parents does not mean we should be independent of God. We always need him; it's part of a life lived with wisdom.

In the Proverb, the difference between the fool and the wise person is the fool can only see the immediate gratification of his action, whereas the wise person sees the consequences of his choices. That's a trait we want our children to have.

How does this apply to my life?

Today's prayer: Lord, help me to raise my children with common sense and wisdom so that they can see the folly of life. Help me to raise them with you as their focus every day. Amen